With the Jets heading into Baltimore this weekend, I think it’s best we learn their vernacular via what might be the greatest TV drama of all time.

Flacco is getting hot just when the Jets come to town? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee………………..Ray Rice is one of the slipperiest backs in the league? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee………………..The Baltimore defense is playing really well right now? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee………………..Mark Sanchez could be in for a long day? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee………………..

Like this:

Excellent article, key point being AMac is a 3-4 that is "way, way overworked." At his best, AMac moves the puck well, blocks shots, and gives us some life on the power play. The problem is he's always on the ice, and he makes mistakes constantly, possibly due to fatigue.

I would like to see him re-sign, but going forward the Isles have to find a way to limit his minutes, at least back down to 18-20 mins/game.

Bottom line... he is not even serviceable..he has no grit and is extremely soft... Watch the game!!! When a opportunity presents itself where he has to throw a check he won't do it...it is that simple...you constantly see forwards come into his zone and get 2nd and 3rd chances to put the shot on net...It is a glaring weakness...I am extremely surprised the coaching staff doesn't address it !!!! He is a liability every time he is on the ice... Remember the Islanders have the 2nd worst defense in the entire NHL...

Our D prospects are stacked... Pokka, Pedan, Pelech, Pulock, Reinhart, De Haan, Donovan. What we don;t have is any forward prospects other than Petrov. I'd be fine trading away Pedan, Donovanand Pelech. I think The rest are untouchable... If we can trade Vanek, Bailey, Amac and a combo of those three dmen, we should be able to replenish our forward prospects, add a #1 goalie and add an NHL Dman...

People on here are way to pessimistic in their views of AMac. He is a good 3-4 D who blocks a lot of shots and puts up points. Remember he is 27 years old which is very young for defencemen. He has 3 1/2 years of NHL experience so yes he will still make mistakes. It take 6-7 years for an average defenceman to fully develop. If we can get him resigned for a decent cap hit then yes we should do it. It will plug a hole and allow Reinhardt, Donovan, Pulock and Pokka a few more years to properly develop in top flight D-men.

Truth is MacDonald, in spite of being much maligned, can be a valuable asset to a winning team. He is a second pairing defenseman, as others have stated and is getting way too many minutes.

However, I HAVE A NOVEL IDEA!!

How bout Chucky actually pony up some dough for this thing and start to climb that ladder from the salary floor. The market paid Oduya 3.45 per year. If Snowang can lock AMac up for several years at 3 million, and ACTUALLY SIGN TOP DEFENCEMEN or defencemen that can fill a role (a guy like Macquaid on Boston), and sure up their goalie situation by paying for one, then maybe AMac can stop being the pariah and succeed in the uniform he's wearing now (well, assuming that once this team moves, they'll be wearing the same laundry).

Between Andrew MacDonald, and cal clutterbuck I think we can manage to get a second round pick and a bag of hockey tape. I've never seen someone so single visioned as clutterbuck. All the guy does is take bad shots and throw the puck through the crease, he needs to go. As for MacDonald I feel he is serviceable but not on the powerplay. He should be a 3rd line MAYBE second line d guy who kills penalties because he blocks shots. He's just not that great. But for real clutterbuck is a bad fit for this team. Who agrees??

For me the perception I am getting is the Islanders have been playing him top minutes and PP with the idea of over pumping his value come 3/5. Listening to NHL on XM and Boston saying they need a minute eating D (they were talking about Brad Stuart) it is clear there are not a lot on the trade front. The problem here is this would mean that Snow actually had a plan with an end game and you know how that goes over lol.

For anyone to say that Andrew Macdonald sucks or is terrible, is completely unfair. As several of you have posted, he has been cast into a role on this team which he really has no business in. However, if he were to play as a 3, 4, 5 defenseman I think he would be looked at as quite a serviceable defenseman. His career numbers aren't that bad.

You state that the Islanders do not pay money to their pending free agents. I submit the name Josh Bailey to you. Too much money, too many years, and earned none of it. Would it really surprise anyone if Snow locked up AMac for 7 years at $24.5m ($3.5m per year)?

I've commented several times before on my opinion of the Islander defenseman. I feel Travis Hamonic and Andy Macdonald are really 2nd pairing defenseman. Thats the problem we really don't have a legitimate #1 and #2 1st pairing defenseman. I'm hoping between Griffen Reinhart,Ryan Pulock,Ville Pokka and the Pelech kid we come away with two studs.

IMO Amac is a solid 2nd pairing dman. If he were playing 18-20 minutes a night instead of 23-25+ than you would see a lot less of his warts. Is he terrible? no. Is he great? Also no. A lot can be argued about how good he actually is but what you can't argue is he is an NHL defenseman that many teams would like to have.

Cut this guy some slack, he's out there breaking his ass every night playing top pair minutes when clearly he is not a top pair defenseman.that being said I'll take him on my team any day at a fair price.

@js43 Gimme a break. Superstar. You don't know that - he was projected at the draft to be a Dan Boyle type. if he becomes Erik Karlsson, great, but with this org's track record of drafting, you'd better sin some Dmen and stop being so damn cheap.

@Julian Schubach I think you forgot our biggest remaining forward down in Bridgeport Anders Lee. Also the little guy Taylor Cammarata was rated pretty high in hockeysfuture. Petrov to me is just a big wimp. He had a chance to come to the Islanders organization and he decided to stay in Russia.

@Richard Gauthier Blocking a lot of shots means that opponents are shooting at the Islanders net all day when he's on the ice. That's bad when you have a team with bad goaltending. The point is to keep the puck away from your net (which is what the fancy stats measure- these stats show that MacDonald is awful).

Basically, when MacDonald is on the ice, the puck is in our zone the vast majority of the time. When de Haan, for example, is on the ice, the puck has been in the offensive zone/neutral zone more often, where it's pretty much impossible for the opponent to score. So let's not use blocked shots as evidence of MacDonald being good; they're actually evidence that he's played poorly.

@Zee Executioner Wasn't AMac a Teddy Nolan Guy? Maybe if things don't work out here something can be worked out with Buffalo, but I agree put in the right role he can be a asset. BTW he is playing 2 more minutes a game this season from what he has been averaging the past 3 seasons.

@Matt RogersI'm sorry, but I don't think you've really been watching games very closely. I will say it does help if you get to see a game in person. You can then see that Clutterbuck is all over the ice. He never stops moving and he makes other teams know he's out there. He kills penalties and can even be on the PK. I think you are underestimating him.

The thing is Amac has been bad not only against the other teams best players but he has been equally as bad against 2nd and 3rd line players as well. His Corsi is horrible against all level of competition. He is a 3rd pairing defenseman at best.

@jepliberty How so? Are you saying that he can't be a serviceable 2nd pair? Nobody is saying he is great. He is exposed playing so many minutes. Not saying he wouldn't make some of the mistakes he does now, but they probably would be less frequent and less costly when he plays less minutes and not against the top lines all the time.

@ny711ot Not sure if that is true but if it is you have to know that he expects there to be no market for D and expects to get a contract, which if that is the case will pump up the value for Amac - IF Viz comes back or Donovan steps up. If neither happen the will not break up the D the way they are playing and being within breathing room of the 3rd spot in the Metro.

@Zee Executioner@js43 No way. That guy is a superstar all the way. This organization has a very good draft record over the past 5 years. Most people are used to the NFL and prospects jumping into the lineup right away but thats not the case with the NHL. Signing overpriced free agents is a terrible idea in hockey. See Philly, Rangers, Wild for more details.

@js43@Julian Schubach Yeah. I'm kind of confused at trading Bailey Vanek to "replenish" our forward prospects. Then what does that leave you on the NHL team? You don't trade Vanek unless he tells you unequivocally that he will not sign with the Isles. Otherwise, you do what you can to sign him.

They need to sign a reliable defenseman. They are not going to sign Amac (nor should they for 5 million). Lubo is uncertain. Although 1 or even 2 of the young guys may be able to make next year's' team, you can't count on that. Look what happened this year. Garth was hoping Donovan would step in for Streit and that hasn't happened yet.

Get a good, solid top D man if you can and take some pressure off the young guys as the come up the ranks.

@Zee Executioner@Richard Gauthier It was attitude like that the got Mike Milbury to trade away all of our good prospects in the late 90's. Have patience. A rebuild take 8-10 years and D propets take 6-7 years to develop.

@Chris R@Don22@Lyle Odelein You're right Chris. He has no skills whatsoever and is probably the worst Dman in the league. How he is even allowed to play in the NHL is a mystery. He must have blackmail pictures of someone.

He is horrible because when he makes a mistake it is magnified. And that is what everyone focuses on. I won't deny he makes his fair share. But he has also made some really nice plays which don't stand out as much because there isn't usually a celebrated result like a goal. You tend to not really remember the good stuff because it is usually a few blocked shots or a nice poke check on a 2 on 1 or something like that. That doesn't make him horrible.

@Timothy John The glaring mistakes only stand out when they result in a goal because the goal is something remembered. You don't remember the 3 or 4 nice poke checks. You don't remember the blocked shots. You don't remember the outlet passes that started a nice rush. You don't remember these things because it doesn't result in something celebrated like a goal. It just fades into the flow of the game.

He's not as horrible as everyone makes him out to be. He's also not a top pair either.

@Timothy JohnRight. Because he is asked to do too much. If he was able to play less minutes and not have to be there against the top all the time he would be able to keep his game simple and play within his means. He tries to do too much. If he were not relied on so much, I think it would cut down on those mistakes.